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Monday, November 26, 2007

What Can We Learn From Thanksgiving Shoppers?

No doubt you may have been among the millions shopping on Black Friday or perhasp you awaited the online frenzy today!

Perhaps you heard on the morning news the following:

"After what appeared to be a strong start to 2007 holiday shopping, retailers are hoping customers will keep buying in a season some forecasters say will be the weakest in five years. "

Did you see the NAR(National Association of Realtors) Nov. 21st report headlined:

"The vast majority of metropolitan areas showed rising or stable home prices in the third quarter with most experiencing modest gains compared with a year earlier, despite a broad decline in existing-home sales, according to the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of Realtors®. "

See the similarities? Both the news on the Thanksgiving and Home Sales indicate good news set in a broader sense of concern of where the market is going. As you know, my last posting noted the centralized nature of the decline in existing home sales. Yet the NAR quote notes "broad decline". What are we to believe? Probably depends on who you ask and the question asked.

As you might imagine the blurb on Thanksgiving sales and on home sales are broad sweeps that are hard to define to all groups. As we will find out in the coming days, Wal-Mart may have seen much better sales than K-Mart or another competitor...or they could have been on the losing end of the comparison.

Likewise, the home sales can be in a decline "broadly" but is it true, where you live? If you just look at the markets noted in the NAR report with increases in values vs those with decreases in value, you will note more up than down. So it can be true in the overall market in Detroit versus the overall market in Chesapeake. To hone in on the answer, talk to a Realtor in your market.

Though you may be able to get the financial results for the retailers on numerous wire services, it is near to impossible to understand the real estate market in your town without the aid of an expert in that given market.

Yet, I encourage you to read both articles referenced above. You can find these reports at: